The History of Digital Media

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Transcript of The History of Digital Media

But before we talk more about Digital Media...Introduction to Digital MediaMMM10What is “Digital Media,” anyway?Today Digital Media might be defined as the seamless digital integration of text, graphics, animation, audio, still images and motion video in a way that provides individual users with high levels of control and interaction.The evolution of Digital Media is a story of the emergence and convergence of these technologies.“The historian, with a vast chronological account of a people, parallels it with a skip trail which stops only at the salient items, and can follow at any time contemporary trails which lead him all over civilization at a particular epoch. There is a new profession of trailblazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record. The inheritance from the master becomes, not only his additions to the world's record, but for his disciples the entire scaffolding by which they were erected.” - Vannevar Bush (1945).What about Media?A Historical Timeline of Media1771 - 2008 in 01:11:00Digital Media = New MediaWhat does that mean?!New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the later part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content.Thank you, Wikipedia!Which, of course,is a version ofnew media.Why do we need to understand New Media?Back to a little history...Even before 1771...China, 100 BCPaper is invented.Historical records andstories can now bestored.Germany, 1455Gutenberg invents theprinting press.Literacy spreadsthrough Europe.1814 - 1825Photography becomesa regular past time.Actual visual recordsof people and historycan now be stored.United States, 1835Samuel Morse inventsMorse Code.Communication breaks thedistance barrier.United States, 1876Alexander Bell invents theTelephone.Conversations break thedistance barrier.France, 1898The Lumiere brothers presentthe first publicly viewed film.Some people become frightenedand try to leave the viewing.United States, 1920The first major radio broadcast fromUnion College, Schenectady, New York.This signals the birth of modern mass media.United States, 1930Conrad Zuse invents thefirst calculator.United States, 1936Allan Turing’s “Turing’s Machine” defined as capable of computing any calculable function.United States, 1943The Zuse Z3 is the first machine to work on a binary system rather than decimal system.“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”- Thomas Watson, IBM (1943)United States, 1952The IBM 701 is the first electronicstored computer that used vacuum tubes,RAM, punch cards and was the size ofa piano.Between 1952 and 1973, an enormous amount ofdevelopment occurs within the computertechnology sector: from integrated circuits,to removable media, to the use of RAM, thepractice of Computer Aided Drafting (CAD), and more... Many companies even began publishing the first laserdiscs.Fast-forward to 1973...In 1973, Kahn & Cerf present ideas for the structure of the Internet.Then...1975: Bill Gates founds Microsoft.1977: Steve Jobs & Bill Wozniak found Apple Computer.Now...?“Computers in the future may weigh more than five tons.”- Popular Mechanics (1949)1950Television “enters” the home.Did you know that today, because of television alone, a person watches an average of 20,000 commercials per year?1978: First publicly available cell phone1983: First PC clone1984: First Apple Macintosh computer1992: World Wide Web becomes publicly accessible1994: Internet becomes interactive (shopping, banking, media streaming, etc.)“There is no reason anyone would want acomputer in their home.”- Ken Olson, Digital Equipment Corp. (1977)And then...“640k ought to be enough for anybody.”- Bill Gates, Microsoft (1981)Through the Internet, global networks revolutionize how people access information.2000: “Web 2.0”2004: Facebook is publicly launched.2006: Twitter is publicly launched.2006: Social networks? TIME Magazine names “You” as Person of the Year.2016: Facebook has 1.7 billion users; Twitter has over 600 million users; Pokémon Go has nearly 300 million users.2017?New Media = Social Media